Warc, 11 June 2014
PARIS/TURIN: Newspapers saw a 2% rise in global circulation
last year and benefitted from increased digital advertising of 11% but, with
print ad revenues falling, they need to raise revenue and user engagement on
digital platforms, the latest World Press Trends report has warned.
Compiled by the Paris-based World Association of Newspapers
and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the survey was presented to 1,000 publishers
and senior newspaper executives at the 66th World Newspaper Congress in Turin,
Italy.
It revealed global newspaper revenues held steady at $163bn
in 2013, buoyed by circulation and advertising growth in emerging markets, but
ongoing declines in mature markets prompted WAN-IFRA to urge publishers to
increase their efforts to improve their digital offerings for audiences.
Larry Kilman, secretary general of WAN-IFRA, said that if
newspapers did not produce sufficient revenues from digital, then this would
not just damage their businesses but also risk weakening democracy itself.
"Unless we crack the revenue issue, and provide
sufficient funds so that newspapers can fulfil their societal role, democracy
will inevitably be weakened," he said.
Even though digital advertising grew 11% last year – and 47%
over five years – it still made up only 7% of all newspaper revenues and a
large proportion went to Google and a handful of other media companies.
Another major problem, the report found, was that newspapers
accounted for only 6% of total internet visits and 0.8% of page views despite
46% of total digital users visiting newspaper websites.
Kilman welcomed measures the industry has undertaken to
improve its digital engagement – such as providing incentives through database
marketing and improving site navigation – but called for more exchange of ideas
and inspiration.
"There is growing understanding by the public that you
get what you pay for, and an increased willingness to pay for newspaper content
on digital platforms," he said.
The outlook for print advertising remained unpromising, the
report indicated, with overall print advertising declining -6% in 2013 and all
regions, apart from Latin America, recording declines in print newspaper
advertising.
Print newspaper advertising fell -8.7% in North America,
-8.2% in Europe, -3.2% in Asia-Pacific and -1.8% in Middle East and Africa.
Elsewhere, the report found newspapers made up 16.9% of
global advertising revenues compared with television's 40.1% share, the
internet (20.7%), magazines (7.9%), outdoor (7%), radio (6.9%) and cinema
(0.5%).
Data sourced from WAN-IFRA ; additional content by Warc
staff
No comments:
Post a Comment